I am now two years old. I hadn’t succeeded in learning any magic however, I could now read most of the words I came across. My mother and father still refused to teach me magic; they both said I was too young to understand some of the harder aspects of it. If they refused to teach me I’ll just have to figure it out for myself, and I was set on learning it soon.

My father was having a magic demonstration today. I was excited to watch and see some real combat magic. Watching the demonstrations today might just provide that missing link I've been waiting for. Father was going to show a crowd of influential people how to use 4th circle magic effectively in battle. I had been looking forward to today's demonstration for over a month! It would be my first time seeing magic in actual combat, most of the magic I’ve seen so far has been 1st and 2nd circle spells from either my mom or dad. Drying dishes with magic wasn’t that interesting to me.

"Darius, it's time to get dressed, come with me." Rhea grabbed my hand and took me to my room to change. "Ok." I might not have gotten everything I wanted in this new home, but my father and mother spoiled me. My father was busy every single day and my mother helped him as much as she could yet they both carved out time to spend with me during most mornings and nights. We had breakfast together as a family every morning. Mother would spend the mornings with me and father the nights. Sometimes he’s working on something in his study, but I end up on his lap and bother him too much so he plays with me. I try to get a glimpse of what he’s reading, that's the real reason, but honestly, I don’t mind playing with him, it's like challenging a giant to a wrestling match. It didn't take long for me to get attached to both of my new parents. "Snap out of it young master, it's time for us to get ready." Rhea took me to our manor's dining area for lunchtime.

We had a quick lunch before heading to the training field to get ready. Knights and servants were running about the manor preparing for guests who would soon arrive. The late afternoon soon arrived and with it, hundreds of guests arrived one after the other. All of them spread out and mingled together in our training field grounds as servants came with food and drinks. My mother carried me on her shoulders and my father went onto the stage. Amongst the guests that arrived most were nobles and court mages but there were also; military mages, knights, soldiers, generals, and there was even royalty that came. There were at least 200 people here to watch my father‘s demonstration, many of which were essential to the Elion Kingdom. “It’s quite the honor to see the Salamander in action.” One of the nobles with wispy facial hair and long dark hair whispered. Most of the guests were whispering to each other in small clustered groups before my father's voice boomed out, “I’ll show you what a single fourth circle magic spell can do if you know how to use it.” Four knights leaped onto the stage and four mages went onto the stage right behind them. Looking around me it seemed as though everyone on the training field from knights to royals was entranced. I watched with bated breath as my father moved his right hand. He spoke a single word to life, and even though it was whispered it seemed to carry weight as everyone could hear it, "Serpent," a powerful force burst forth as a single magic circle appeared from my father's hand. A massive serpent made of pure red flames shot forth at an incredible speed. The knights and mages in the arena went into formation preparing different defensive spells. "Earthen Wall!", "Water Shield!", "I call upon the force of the wind, Vortex!" Different spells were set up layer by layer by the mages and knights preparing for the impact of the serpent spell. The heat coming from the serpent could be felt by every person on the training field. I felt as though I was in front of a warm fireplace, but I noticed most everyone else was sweating bullets as if they were getting roasted by the heat. I found out why when I looked down at my mother. She was leading the heat away as a gentle wind seemed to wrap around us protecting us from the heat.

The fiery serpent shot out with incredible power, wiggling and swaying as if it were alive. The serpent's mouth snapped open as it quickly swallowed the shields and defenses of all the knights and mages on the stage. The knights tried to counterattack, preparing to shoot spells at my father to try and distract him, but before they had the chance to finish chanting, "Explode!", my father shouted and the serpent exploded! Over a dozen smaller flaming serpents shot out from the explosion. Each serpent quickly wrapped itself around the unprepared knights and mages; the smaller serpents brought their fangs to the participants' throats before stopping. The demonstration was over, no one knew who started, but clapping and cheering took over the field as the crowd and everyone in it were in awe of the results. All of the serpents vanished as if they were never there, to begin with, and all of the knights and mages on the stage couldn’t help but clap as well. Watching magic, especially magic like that, was incredibly exciting. “Wooow!” I couldn’t wait until I could do that as well.

There was a small break in the demonstrations until my father‘s head knight Sir Elijah Elwood went up on the stage and fought a group of knights and soldiers from one of the nobles in the crowd. Elijah ran straight forward chanting something under his breath as he ran. The noble seemed to be that same noble with wispy long hair I saw earlier. Wispy's knights seemed to have decent teamwork as they worked off each other's spells. One knight set up an earthen wall while another shot out blades of wind to slow down Elijah’s assault. Elijah showed off his techniques and spells to the crowd, as he weaved his way through the knights and soldiers like a ghost using both magic and swordsmanship together to great effect. None of the spells the knights cast could deter Elijah at all as he closed in through a gap in the earthen walls making his way right behind Wispy’s knights. He finished off the demonstration by trapping all of the knight's feet at the same time and smacking each of them once with his sword before they could react properly. The crowd cheered for Elijah. I thought Wispy would be gritting his teeth at the results, but I could see him clapping and smiling as well.

Even my mother went up on the stage and performed a few tricks for the crowd. Members of the red tower went up on the stage one by one to show off the competent fire mages and knights of the Red Tower.

The demonstration ended when the Royal Knight from the capital showed off a bit, which I’m guessing was for political reasons. The Royal Family needed to show the crowd that they weren’t people that could be ignored so they had the head of the Royal Knights Sir Whitaker spar a bit. Sir Whitaker was a 4th circle mage and an excellent swordsman so the demonstration was entertaining, but not as interesting as the early matches. The match ended too quickly with Sir Whitaker blowing away the knights on the stage with one spell. After the final magic battle the festivities began.

I unfortunately had to meet quite a few young nobles that were older than me. Some of the noble brats even showed off some stupid magic of their own. Watching immature noble children cast magic deeply irritated me. The typical age for young nobles to start learning magic was 5-6 years old. I am currently two, and I didn't intend to wait that long.

After the dinner party most of the guests left, some of the guests would stay the night such as crown prince Albert Elion, and family friends such as Wispy or Lord Hartright but most would leave later tonight. I didn't pay much attention to the crown prince or nobles, but I would probably be forced to in the future. Lord Hartright had a villain's face, but completely broke character when he interacted with my parents. “Elijah always gives my men trouble. They get passionate about training whenever Sir Elijah comes around.” “Be careful James if Elijah spars with them too often it’ll stroke his ego and we won’t hear the end of it.” They started laughing. My eyes were growing heavy into the night. I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I was only awake this late due to sheer will. The last thing I heard before falling asleep was my mother’s voice, “You did great today Darius, sleep well little lion.” I could feel her warm hand rubbing my back and I fell asleep.